A trying 2008 made Redwood City stronger, mayor says

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 22, 2009 | by Shaun Bishop

Echoing themes in President Barack Obama's inaugural address a day earlier, Redwood City Mayor Rosanne Foust on Wednesday called for communitywide cooperation and perseverance as the city tackles major challenges this year, including the unresolved future of its salt flats.

"I firmly believe in 2009 Redwood City can be the city of opportunity," Foust said in the annual State of the City address. "It is through the adversity we faced in 2008 on multiple fronts that we together as a community became stronger."

Speaking at the Pacific Athletic Club, Foust touched on a number of issues that carried over from the city's agenda last year, including creating a new general plan, closing a multimillion- dollar budget gap and addressing a housing shortage.

"We need to set aside the special interests, the inflexibility and the disdain for positions contrary to ours and come together," Foust said.

Foust spoke briefly about what she called the "big elephant in the room" -- the 1,433 acres of salt flats owned by Cargill, Inc. that consumed the city's attention for most of last year in a bruising battle over land use.

Last March, environmental groups that oppose the company's plans to develop the land unveiled an initiative that would have required two-thirds of voters to approve construction on lands considered open space.

But after an intense campaign that pitted Foust and the City Council against proponents of Measure W, voters soundly rejected the initiative in November, with 62.6 percent opposed.

Cargill's development firm DMB Associates has said it expects to submit in a few months its plans to develop up to half of the site.

Foust said Wednesday that the city remains committed to leading a public outreach effort to determine how the site should be used. She encouraged residents to keep an open mind, saying "it's about being willing to listen."

On the city's efforts to revitalize the downtown area, Foust spoke with frustration about a lawsuit that has stalled the city's Downtown Precise Plan, a long-term blueprint approved by the City Council in spring of 2007.

She said the council is working aggressively to resolve the lawsuit filed by local attorney Joseph Carcione, "whether through intense negotiation or the court system."

Repeating a directive from her speech a year ago, Foust used sharp words as she called for property owners to redouble their efforts to attract businesses downtown.

While a number of new restaurants moved into the downtown area, the city has struggled to find businesses for several prominent shop locations that have been boarded up for years.

"Enough with the empty storefronts" and "incompetent leasing agencies and property managers," Foust said. "We deserve better."

She said the City Council will redouble its economic development efforts this year and is "committed to making this downtown and this community successful."

Before Foust's speech, Vice Mayor Diane Howard offered a look back at 2008, praising the hiring of Peter Ingram as city manager, the opening of a new library in Redwood Shores and the success of special events downtown.

Howard also commended the city's staff for being fiscally prudent in better economic times so the city is better prepared to weather the current fiscal crisis.

E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.